Factory IV adds creative energy to downtown Indianapolis

I walked down an alley to an unmarked door. Luckily for me I was not walking down the alley alone, as other well-dressed people were right behind me. We made our way up the concrete stairway to the top floor, where we were welcomed into a large space by familiar creative fashion enthusiasts — DJs, hip-hop artists, stylists, and photographers.

FACTORY IV, Indy’s newest creative space, is the brainchild of fashionable duo Mallory Talty and Latham Hawkins, who did a fantastic menswear shoot for Issue 2 of PATTERN Magazine. They recently opened FACTORY IV on the 4th floor of the building next to The Libertine.

The space is large and open, allowing enough room for fashion talent to sew, photograph, and show their pieces. After checking out the space, I had the opportunity to talk to Talty about Factory IV.

Mallory, this space is so large and open – a perfect blank canvas. What is your vision for Factory IV?

We’re hoping that the space can serve as a hub for creative individuals to thrive and learn as many aspects of the fashion industry that we can offer. We don’t claim to be experts, but know that we have something to offer to the budding talent in Indy who might not necessarily have the resources or environment to achieve their goals. We want to push people. You want to learn how to sew? Great, we have someone to teach you and help you make a garment. You want to learn about makeup and styling? We have that too. The space is also our photography business’ studio, where we shoot everything from commercial product to conceptual fashion photography.

I know you want to focus on developing and mentoring emerging talent at Factory IV, but what resources will you have available?

We have been collecting fabric from Chicago for the past couple of years now, on a whim that, eventually, someone would use it. So, for now, we have fabric, sewing machines and a couple seamstresses that are dying for an opportunity to teach. Aside from the design aspect of Factory IV, we also have an awesome team of stylists, makeup artists, and photographers to serve those that are interested in those fields.

A dream space for creativity. How will the process work for talent looking to use Factory IV?

Right now, that honestly is to be determined. We would love to join forces with another youth program that would use Factory IV as an extension of what they already offer. We want to make sure people are truly interested and passionate about a career in a fashion-related field and are there to learn.

I know you and Latham are busy people working on your own projects. How are you going to break in Factory IV, or have you already?

We put a few posts on Instagram showing off all the fabric we had for people to use and didn’t get a single bite. I think we’ll need some kind of backing by another organization in order to make it successful. For now, though, we do have a couple people in mind that we would love to create garments in our space, and we have invited them to get the ball rolling.

Where do you see Factory IV this time next year?

Our dream is to see a true collection produced and shown in Factory IV, one with the potential to go on to New York. That’s a ton of work for someone just breaking into the industry, but we believe it’s possible. We have faith that there’s hidden talent right now in Indy, just sketching away with no intention of ever producing a garment. We want to give them that chance. Once that happens, we feel it will set the trend for Indy’s newest designers to emerge.